Middlings-purifier



2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

Patented Dee. 20,188.1.

llllllllllllllllllllllll/L fm). My@

W. D. GRAY.'

N. Pinks Fnomumngnpmr. washington. D. C.

(No Model.)

MIDDLINGS PURIFIER.

(No Model.) v 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

W. D. GRAY.

. MIDDLINGS PURIPIBR. No. 251,216. Patented 1360.221881.

UNITED STATES PATENT OEECE.

VILLIAM I). GRAY, OF MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN.

MIDDLINGs-Pumnea.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 251,216, dated December 20, 1881.

Application filed December 2, 1880.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, WlLLIAM D. GRAY, of -Milwaukee,in the county ot' Milwaukee and State of Wisconsin, have invented certain 1mprovements in Middlings-Puritiers, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to that class of machines in which the material passes down overa sexies of shelves or through a series of hoppers subject to the action of an ascending current of air, which carries on? the light impurities, but permits the heavy impurities and middlings to fall into separate chambers in the.

base of the machine.

rlhe object of the invention is to do away with the numerous valves, dividers, and other adjustable devices hitherto required in allsuccessful machines of this class, and which are a source of much trouble and annoyance, besides rendering the attention of a skilled operator necessary.

My invention consists in the construction and arrangement of the various stationary shelves and other parts hereinafter described.

The machine may be made with one, two, or four series or columns of purifying devices, all communicating with a single fan or air trunk,

.- and may be made with or without va gradingscreenat the-top.

rlhe accompanying drawings represent my machine in two forms.

Figure l represents a side elevation of a machine containing two series or columns of pnrifying devices, one side of the machine, which is a duplicate ofthe other, being shown in section. Fig. 2 represents a vertical cross-section of the saine on the line x x. Fig. 3. represents an elevation, one-half in section, of a machine containing four series or columns of devices and a grading-screen.

Referring to Figs. l and 2, A represents an upright casin g, closed at all points except those hereinafter specified. Near the top ofthe machine there is a horizontal partition, a. In thcv (No model.)

the air-currents which are drawn through the sides of the body intothe trunk b. An exhaustfan or other air-exhausting apparatus will be connected with or mounted in the foot of the air-trunk b. In the top ofthe body, above the partition a, there are two hoppers or a double hopper, d d, incliningA downward toward the two sides of the machine, and provided near each side with a feed opening or throat, c. Beneath each throat there is a feed-roll, f, and a gate, g, to regulate the rate of feed.

In each side of the machine, beneath the feeding devices, I arrange, one above another, a series of pockets, each of which serves to check or retard the descending material, spread thesameinto athin sheet, and deliverit through the incoming air-current upon the device next below in the series. Openings between the pockets admit currents of air inward through the side of the machine. Each of the detaining-pockets consists of an inwardly-inclined board or shell, H, having a vertical depending ange, t', at theinner lower edge, and ot'a vertical guard or board, I, located immediately above the inner edge of the shelf in suchmanner as to leave a narrow slit or openingk,be tween them to permit the descent of ythe material. The guard I has at its lower edge a surface inclined toward shelf H, as shown at t. In practice it is found that by the use of this inclined surface a much better and more uniform distribution of the material is secured, the effeet of the inclined lip being, first, to direct the material toward the shelf h, and, secondly, to increase the length of the slide or passage through which the material falls to the pocketl below. On the inner side the guard I is provided at the top with a surface, m, inclining downward and inward, and also with a face, u, inclining upward and inward, as shown. Be-

low the face a the guard I has a vertical face.

the inclined faces m overhangs the one below, so that the material falling from one face is de- IOO livered inward and downward npon the next, and so on repeatedly until the material from all the faces is finally delivered into a receivingchamber, D, in the base of the machine.

It will be noticed that a series of winding or crooked passages, o, exists between each shelf and guard and the next, admitting the air through the side of the machine into the interior. The air, in entering, passes beneath the shelves H, against the upright faces of guards I, thence upward past the mouths or slits lr, impinging against the inclined face n and being deflected inward thereby, after which it passes upward into the trunk, and thence out of the machine. An inclined depending guard,p, at the top, directs the air entering at the top opening downward.

In the base of the machine, at the outer side, there is a chamber, E, to receive the purified material. This chamber is located outside of the bottom shelf', H, and is covered by an inclined board or guard, p', to protect the material from the incoming air and prevent it from being driven over into the chamber D. The purified material (all of which passes overthe bottom shelf) is delivered into the chamber E by inclined conducting-board t. The shelves H and guards I are all fixed rigidly and permanently in position.

It will be noted that the admission of air into the side of' the machine is controlled by the shelves, being arranged to leave the proper spaces between them, and that consequently the boards, valves, and other special devices ordinarily employed are not required.

Inclined delivering boards u, arranged in chamber D, will discharge the impure matters or returns through an opening in the'side of the chamber, as represented in Fig. 2. The opening is closed by a hinged falling door or otherwise.

The chamberEis provided with a dischargeopening in the bottom.

The operation is as follows: The fan being set in motion and the material to be treated placed in the hopper, the material passes down into the lirst pocket and out through its slit k in a thin sheet. This sheet encounters the incoming current of air, by which the impurities, to a greater or less extent, are removed and carried over the top of the guard I, while the purified material falls into the next pocket beneath. The heavier portion of the material removed by the air falls upon the face u and passes down over the corresponding faces below to chamber D; but the light matters and impurities remain in suspension inv the air and are carried oil' through the trunk. The partially-purified material, after being acted upon in falling from the first pocket, descends in succession through the various pockets, over the various shelves, to the conducting-board, which delivers it into the chamber F. Between each pocket and the next the material is acted upon by the air in the same manner as in the first instance, and by each action the material brought to a higher state of purification.

The machine represented in Fig. 3 resembles the one above described so far as the arrangement ot' each series of shelves and guards is concerned. It has, however, four series of shelves and guards instead of two, and has the exhaustfan K located in a central chamber, which communicates by bottom passages with the air-trunks in the two sides of' the machine. As in the first machine, each trunk b has at the top a central fixed board, w, the better to divide and equalize the draft on the two sides ofthe trunk. This double machine also contains at the top a reciprocating screen, M, having a graded cloth, so as to grade the material and deliver the different grades to the respective series of shelves. This screen may be suspended by links and driven by an eccentric and pitman, asshown, or it may be sustained and driven in any other suitable manner.

I am aware that various machines have been constructed in which the material was delivered through a blast of' air from one hopper downward to another, and I make no broad claim thereto.

Having thus described my invention, what l claim is 1. In combination with the shelves, the fan producing an inward draft, and an outside chamber, E, detiector or guard 19', located above said chamber to protect the purified material from the inflowing air and direct it into the chamber.

2. In a gravityseparator, the combination of the inclined shelves H, having the depending lips t' at the lower edge, and the vertical boards I, each having at the top the inclined faces m and at the bottom the inclined face l,

over which the material passes to the shelves.

3. In a middlings-purier, a series of separati n g-guards and shelves, arranged one above the other, each embracing an inclined shelf, H, witha depending lip, t', and a vertical wall above said shelf', provided with inclined faces m and n.

4. In combination with the feed-hopper, the pockets, and inclined shelves below the same, the inclined guardsp, extending downward below the line of the inlet, as described.

5. In a middlings-puritier, the combination of a fan or exhauster,a series of vertical walls,

fi, arranged successively below and inside of one another, in combination with inclined boards H, having lips t, throats lr, and inclined faces n and m, the latter overhanging each other, as described and shown.

WILLIAM D. GRAY. Witnesses:

EDWD. P. ALLIs, J r., T. F. WAMBOLD.

IIO 

